


Love Made Material

by ninamyyly



Series: Sheith Kids and Christmas [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Presents, Family Fluff, M/M, Married Keith/Shiro (Voltron), Mpreg, Pregnant Keith (Voltron), Sheith Secret Santa 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:14:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21958720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ninamyyly/pseuds/ninamyyly
Summary: On Christmas morning, Shiro and Keith share gifts with each other, and with their family.
Relationships: Keith/Shiro (Voltron)
Series: Sheith Kids and Christmas [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2070312
Comments: 5
Kudos: 158





	Love Made Material

**Author's Note:**

  * For [PastelPrince24](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PastelPrince24/gifts).



> This is my Sheith Secret Santa 2019 piece for Lei or @Fawnandfriends, who asked for Sheith celebrating and opening presents with their children. I have to say, I got the exact right prompt, because I love Sheith and Sheith Babies ❤︎. I had a lot of fun writing this, so I hope you enjoy it, Lei, and whoever else reads this!
> 
> Happy holidays to everyone who celebrates any of them and a good day to everyone who doesn't! And special thanks to @leandralena for beta-reading this ❤︎.

The way Keith wakes up that day isn’t different from any other over the past few years. He awakens when the air gets knocked out of him by someone’s weight hitting his stomach. It’s a small someone, but given the way she bounces on him, it still packs a bit of a punch.

“Daddy, Papa, wake up!” Andi’s loud cries fill the room that had been so peaceful and quiet just a few seconds ago.

Keith swallows a groan and silently kisses the warmth of his bed goodbye. There haven’t been many mornings he’s been allowed to sleep in since Andi came into their lives. But even so, the exhaustion that has been following him around like an additional weight still had him hoping he might be able to today. Though he supposes he should’ve known that it was too good to even think about, given what day it is.

“It’s Christmas! I wanna open presents!” Andi continues gleefully, punching more air out of Keith as she bobbles on top of his stomach with her whole weight.

Keith cracks one eye open, rubbing the corner of the other with his fist as he shuffles to sit up. He doesn’t want to give her the chance to make him too nauseous. “Alright, I’m up, I’m up.”

He wraps his left arm around his daughter, giving her dark hair a soft kiss; and using his right one to gently hit the back of the warm big lump lying next to him in bed. If he’s going to be woken up this early on Christmas, he’s not going to be doing it alone.

“Merry Christmas, Little Star. Where’s your brother?” Keith murmurs into Andi’s ear.

Andi turns to point towards the door. Indeed, there stands Sven in his baby pajamas, looking as sleepy a Keith feels. He’s dragging the Slav-shaped plushie Lance gave him as a joke. Much to Shiro’s dismay, he ended up loving it and takes it everywhere. Unlike his sister, he’s not an early riser, but he follows her wherever she goes, so if Andi wants to be up early on Christmas morning, he lets her lead him.

Beside Sven, the Wolf sits still with his yellow eyes glowing in the semi-darkness, his fluffy tail curled around the boy’s tiny legs. Ever since the children were born, he’s been acting as their protector, their bodyguard whenever their parents aren’t around. He even sleeps in their room, between the kids’ beds on the floor. Although Keith has to admit he sometimes gets jealous over the attention of his furry friend, he much prefers the Wolf sleeping in the nursery than here in the master bedroom. The adults need privacy at least somewhere in the house, dammit. Not to mention Keith just feels a little more settled when he knows the Wolf is always there to guard the children. No doubt ready to defend them from anything, when Keith himself can’t be in the same room with them.

He feels his husband finally shift on the bed before jumping out and quickly making his way over to their son and grabbing him up into his big arms. Sven immediately nuzzles into Shiro’s shoulder, humming in soft contentment. He’s a quiet, calm sort of child; a little shy around strangers but affectionate with those he knows and trusts. He looks almost like a copy of a young Shiro, with the same face, eyes and hair. But Krolia tends to say he reminds her of Keith when he was little more than a kit himself.

“You’re still a bit tired, huh, Shooting Star?” Shiro coos, gently rocking Sven back and forth. Keith can’t help but break into a smile at the sight of them, his heart growing warm in his chest. Shiro is such a good father; just as attentive and caring as Keith always imagined he’d be. It never fails to make him feel full of joy and peace when he sees him with their children. Knowing this man is his husband, and the other parent to his children.

“Would you like to go back to bed?” Shiro hums softly to Sven.

“No, no bed!” Andi cries, sounding scandalized. “I want breakfast so we can open presents!”

“Andi,” Keith says, a stern undertone in his voice, as a gentle warning. He and Shiro are trying to teach their children patience and manners, to help them learn to look out for others and beyond their own immediate wants. They’ve made it a rule that no presents get opened on Christmas morning until breakfast has been eaten. Perhaps it’s asking a lot from a five-year-old, but he wants her to learn to think of her brother and not just drag him along as she has a tendency to do.

“What?” Andi whines. “Svennie doesn’t mind. He already got up!”

“Did he tell you that or did you just wake him up?” Keith asks.

She falls quiet, her mouth snapping shut. She averts her eyes, biting down on her lip.

“Cocoa, Daddy,” comes a small murmur from Shiro’s direction, and as Keith looks up, he finds Sven staring at him over Shiro’s shoulder, looking a bit more awake now.

He sighs. He supposes that’s Sven’s way of saying, in his somewhat limited English of a toddler of twenty-two months, that he’s ready to be up. He’s always a bit more wakeful once he’s had his morning cup of cocoa.

“Alright, then,” Keith says, shifting his legs to let his feet touch the floor, thankful for the knitted socks given to him by Kolivan, of all people, that protect his toes from the cold ground. Apparently, Kolivan finds knitting soothing, now that the Blade Leader actually has time for hobbies.

He pulls Andi up on his hip as he gets up, effectively pulling her along as he walks over to Shiro, meeting his warm gaze with a soft smile.

“Merry Christmas, Takashi,” he says.

“Merry Christmas, baby,” Shiro says, and leans in to give him a soft kiss on the lips, morning breath and all. Keith doesn’t mind. He’s been tasting that breath for years now, and he’s happy to do so; happy to have anything and everything Shiro gives him. Including…

Well. That’s a thought for later today. He just hopes Shiro will be happy when he finds out.

“Papa, stop smooching Daddy already! Breakfast!” Andi cries between them.

Keith pulls back from the kiss, but keeps his smile and his eyes on his husband. “Yeah, yeah.”

“You go down ahead and get breakfast started,” Shiro says gently. “I’m gonna go change Sven real quick.”

Keith nods silently and the four of them exit the master bedroom and head down the corridor, the Wolf following at their heels. Shiro leaves Keith with their daughter as they pass the nursery, heading inside. Keith continues his path down the stairs with Andi in his arms to the open-concept space, half of it kitchen and half living room. The colorful Christmas tree lights glowing in the room makes it easy for him to see in the dark. He turns on the lights, and sees the tall purple woman sitting at the kitchen table sipping a cup of something.

“Mom!” Keith gasps, his heart jumping into his throat. “What are you doing sitting in the dark? I thought you were still asleep.”

“Don’t be silly, Keith. I haven’t slept in since I was a kit,” Krolia says, giving him a small smile. “I suppose I forgot to turn on the lights. It doesn’t much matter to me if they’re on or not. I see well enough without them.”

“Granny!” Andi calls out, her face breaking into a smile as she starts squirming in Keith’s arms. He quickly crouches down to let her run off to his Mom. “Merry Christmas!”

“Merry Christmas, Andromeda,” Krolia says with a warm smile, getting up from her chair to take her granddaughter into her arms for a hug. “Are you excited to see what Santa brought you?”

Keith smiles to himself as he heads over to the stove to get breakfast started, just as he hears Shiro beginning to descent down the stairs. His Mom may still not quite understand the purpose of Santa Claus; or why human parents lie to their children about a fat man in a red costume coming down their chimneys to bring gifts when the parents are the ones who really buy the presents. But she hadn’t let her confusion stop her from acting like she believed, especially when Keith had emphasized to her that he wanted his children to have that childish faith for at least a little while. He supposes even now, pretending comes naturally enough to an alien spy. Acting like she believes in Santa is probably the least stressful role she’s ever played.

“Yeah!” Keith hears Andi say as he turns on the stove. He crouches down to grab a bowl and a single plate from one of the drawers. “But Daddy and Papa want us to wait until we eat.”

As he heads over to the fridge, he sees Shiro enter the kitchen and place Sven in his high chair. Shiro meets his eyes over his shoulder, giving him a smile. Keith returns it as he takes out a carton of soymilk, a jar of butter and a couple of eggs, placing them next to the bowl.

“Patience yields focus, Andi,” Keith hears Shiro say as he reaches for the pancake mix in the cupboards.

He chuckles to himself at the old phrase, as he hears his Mom and husband wish each other good morning and heads back to the bowl, starting to mix all the ingredients together into batter.

“Don’t pout, Andi,” Shiro says. “It’s not good to pout on Christmas.”

As Keith takes out a frying pan and places it to warm up on the stove, he hears Andi make grumbling noises. He turns to see Shiro come up to him to take the milk and pour some into a sippy cup, putting it in the microwave. Warming up some milk to make cocoa for Sven is just about the only thing Keith knows he can trust Shiro to do around the kitchen, but it’s enough. Keith may do all of the cooking in their house, but Shiro does plenty of other things like cleaning and the laundry so Keith doesn’t have to. They divide all the chores and childcare evenly between them, and it’s something Keith has always appreciated about their relationship. He and Shiro are equals and partners, they work together and help each other, even after all these years.

When the microwave beeps and Shiro reaches in to take out the cup, Keith puts in a pat of butter into the pan and pours in some batter on top. It soon begins sizzling happily, filling the air with a sweet smell. As Keith flips the pancake, he sees Shiro pour cocoa powder into the cup over his shoulder. Shiro takes out a spoon to mix the powder with the milk properly, before putting on the sippy lid. He gently touches Keith’s shoulder as he passes him, putting the sippy cup in front of Sven in his chair.

“Be careful, it’s hot,” Shiro says gently, Keith watching as he pets Sven’s dark hair almost more softly than most would expect from such a large hand.

As Sven grabs his sippy cup to start drinking his cocoa and Keith flips the first ready pancake on the plate, Shiro heads to grab dishes for all of them.

“I hope Santa liked the cookies and milk I put out for him,” Andi says.

“I’m sure he did,” Keith says, glancing over to the table to see Shiro starting to set down the plates.

He smiles a little, letting himself get drawn into the routine work of pouring batter and flipping pancakes, the noises of his family close by muddling together into a sweet song in his ears. He knows he can trust Shiro to take care of everything around him, from looking after the kids to feeding the Wolf while he cooks. He allows himself this moment of peace, of warm stove and the smell of food, to give him a moment’s rest to properly wake up, right up until the very last pancake he can make of the batter has been plated. He brings them over to the table. Everyone has already taken their seats around it and it’s fully set for all of them with jam, sugar, honey and butter in the middle, along with a fresh pot of coffee and a carton of juice. Keith puts the pancakes on the table to accompany everything else.

“Finally!” Andi cries as she reaches to take a few pancakes to her own plate with her fork.

“Be patient, Andi,” Shiro says gently. “The presents are not gonna run away. They’ll still be there when you’ve eaten.”

Keith begins reaching for the pot of coffee, before he remembers. He reaches for the juice instead with a small, disappointed sigh.

“But knowing they’re there makes it awful to wait!” Andi insists as Keith pours juice for himself and takes a sip.

“Then you better start eating, but remember your table manners,” Keith says, before reaching to take a pancake for Sven, sprinkling some sugar on top and rolling it up into a burrito so it’s easy for him to eat, just the way he likes it. His son gives him a happy little smile as a thank-you, looking a lot more awake now that he’s had his cocoa, eagerly putting the roll in his mouth and taking a bite.

Andi also does as told and begins to eat, giving Keith a chance to grab a few pancakes for himself and tuck in. He makes sure to keep an eye on his kids, seeing that they’re not choking down their food, but he’s glad to see they’re both eating at a reasonable pace.

He lets out a small, contented sigh as he takes in the sight of his family like this, sitting around the same table on Christmas morning, eating the food he cooked for them. It’s something he’d thought he’d never have for so long, and seeing it now, completely within his reach, fills him with warm, bubbly joy.

Being able to do things calmly like this on Christmas Day settles him somewhere deep inside himself. As much as he loves his extended family of friends and Blade members, he’s glad that he and Shiro have long had a mutual agreement that Christmas Day would always be kept as calm and easygoing as they could make it with two small kids. It would consist of presents, playing and spending time together; dinner later and watching Christmas movies on TV, perhaps playing some games. Christmas Eve has become the time to spend with the others, usually at a grand party with everyone and their families and kids; but the Day has become sanctified to just immediate family fun and quiet.

And even if that meant getting up early in the morning despite all the hectic activity of yesterday, Keith wouldn’t trade it for anything.

He smiles into the rim of his glass of juice. With food and drink in his belly, he’s slowly starting to feel a little more awake, though he still longs for the cup of coffee he can’t have. He wonders if Shiro has noticed he’s not having any, but his husband has always been good at not pushing him to talk. He may nudge Keith in the right direction, give him a chance to speak and ask if he’s alright, but he always knows where to stop and when not to ask.

It doesn’t matter anyway. He’ll find out what is going on soon enough regardless.

Keith finishes up his breakfast, setting down his cutlery. He glances over at his daughter, and feels a pang of pride seeing that Andi has stayed put in her seat despite having already finished eating as well. Given the way her big eyes gleam, he can tell she wants to just rush off, but the fact she hasn’t tells him that everything he and Shiro have tried to teach her has started to stick.

He glances around the table, and seeing everyone else about to finish up their platefuls, and stands to his feet. “Alright. Now we can go open presents.”

“ _Finally_ ,” Andi breathes out, sliding off her chair to the floor as Keith gathers her brother into his arms. They can clean the table later.

Shiro gives Andi his hand, and Krolia takes the silent lead towards the living room and the presents under the tree. As soon as they round the couch, Andi lets go of Shiro’s hand to rush off to the coffee table to see the empty plate. It’s only covered in cookie crumbs now, and the equally empty glass standing beside it.

“Santa came!” she cheers at everyone else over her shoulder with a huge smile on her face. “He ate my cookies!”

“See, I told you,” Keith says with a smile as he crouches down to let Sven down to the floor on his tiny feet. The toddler peers curiously at the table with his dark eyes, before turning towards the wrapped packages sitting under the Christmas tree. Unlike his sister, though, he seems content to stay close, clutching at his Slav plushie.

“Can we open presents now?” Andi asks, her eyes sparkling with excitement. The sight of it warms Keith’s heart. This is exactly the kind of Christmas he had hoped his children would have, where they would wake up eager for the day, excited for everything it would bring. He’s so glad he’s been able to give them that.

“Yeah, we can,” Shiro says, sitting down on the floor as well. “One at a time, though, Little Star, you know the rules.”

“Yeah,” Andi says, her smile not faltering. “Can I start?”

“You can start,” Keith says with a nod. “But bring one for your brother too, okay?”

“Okay,” Andi says with a proud nod as she heads over to the pile of presents. She has just recently learned to read and write her own name, and those in her immediate family, and Keith knows she’s very proud of that and being able to use her skills now.

Predictably, Andi heads to the biggest present first, one almost as big as she is, pushing it out from under the tree with all her tiny might. It’s a present Keith knows to be from Hunk. For Sven, she grabs a neat little square packet.

“Here, Svennie, it’s for you,” she says with a smile.

He returns the smile, taking the wrapped present in his tiny hands. Once he does, there is nothing stopping the two of them from ripping into their gifts, though Keith quickly steps in to help Sven. The wrapping reveals a series of picture books from Pidge, two of them on space-related topics and two on more general things.

“Look, Sven,” Keith says with a smile, showing them to him. “These hold in all sorts of pretty pictures. You can learn new words from them.”

Sven grins wide, revealing his white baby teeth as Andi finally unravels her present from its wrapping.

“An easy-bake oven!” she cries happily, skipping around it with glee.

“We’ll put it up in your room later,” Shiro promises warmly. He reaches for a smaller present under the tree, handing it over to Keith. “This is for Daddy.”

Keith smiles, silently accepting the gift with a nod. He opens it much more delicately than his children did, barely tearing the paper and keeping the ribbon completely intact. Despite the financial security that came from saving the universe, some remnants of his rough childhood remain. One of those things being that he still has a compulsion to save every little item that he feels he can reuse, because he can never know when it might be needed. He’s just grateful Shiro is in his life now to guide and manage his compulsions; otherwise their home would probably become like a hoarder’s.

With his children watching eagerly, Keith finally unravels his gift, he can’t help the gasp that escapes his lips, his eyes widening.

“How did you find this?” he asks, just managing to not sound choked up even as he can feel his lips tremble and his eyes burn. He can’t take his eyes off his gift.

“I had help,” Shiro says softly, and Keith feels more than sees him shift closer, feeling his kiss on his head. “Merry Christmas, baby.”

In his hands, Keith holds an old-fashioned DVD, just like the ones he had as a kid. His Dad used to bring them home from old second-hand stores, and Keith would watch them while he waited for his Dad to come home with the ancient equipment his Dad has fixed up for them. He’d seen this particular animated movie more times than he could count; it had been his favorite as a kid. But he’d thought all the copies had been destroyed in the war.

He can’t wait to watch it with his kids. He’s sure they can find an old DVD player somewhere. Or maybe Hunk and Pidge can fix one up for them if they can’t. If they could make old video games work in space, he’s sure creating a DVD player would be a piece of cake for the two of them.

For now, he swallows down his tears. “Thank you,” he says with as much warmth as he can muster, turning to give his husband a proper kiss. Afterwards, he reaches for another gift in the pile, handing it over to Shiro. “It’s not much, but I hope you like it.”

“I’m sure I will,” Shiro says, starting to unwrap the present with much less finesse and a lot more rush than Keith, ripping into it, not unlike their kids.

Keith’s happy to hear Shiro’s own gasp when he sees the gift; a framed photograph of Keith and Shiro outside the Garrison, taken at the end of Keith’s first semester there. Young Shiro’s grin is open and boyish, his cheeks a bit pink in the sun, his hand on Keith’s shoulder. Young Keith in his orange cadet uniform, is looking up at him, appearing almost startled, his cheeks redder than Shiro’s.

Keith still remembers that day, and how he felt in that exact moment. The fact Shiro had even suggested taking a picture to commemorate the end of the semester had sent his heart racing. He hadn’t had any pictures taken outside of mandatory school pictures since he had lived with his Dad. But Shiro had made it sound so easy, so simple; like this was the natural thing to do for Keith. _With_ Keith. Like they were really friends.

The desert sun of the early summer had shone in Shiro’s dark hair like a halo as Matt snapped the pictures. The sight of him had made Keith’s body tremble, his heart aching strangely in his chest just looking at him. He hadn’t been able to put what he was feeling into words yet or quite understand it. All he’d known was that he’d do anything for Shiro to always smile like that, especially with him.

This is not the only picture they had taken, Matt has a whole series in his archives, all taken within seconds of each other. But Keith had figured this one to be the one most suitable as a present to his husband. The first signs of his own love and devotion, captured by the camera, preserved in this image forever.

“I love it,” Shiro says warmly with a huge smile, and Keith lets him pull him in for another kiss.

“Granny, this is for you!” Andi says, effectively breaking the moment and the smooch. Keith and Shiro pull apart just in time to see their daughter hand Krolia a present that is almost more tape than paper that Keith helped her wrap almost a week ago.

“Thank you, Andromeda,” Krolia says, smiling warmly, opening the gift in a few precise movements, revealing a self-made mug of clay with a painted word ‘Granny’ on it. “It’s lovely.”

She gives Andi a quick tight hug, before the girl heads back to the pile of presents, pulling the second biggest one out from under the tree. She immediately rips into it, revealing a toy chemistry set from Pidge that she begins examining with interest. Krolia takes over handing Sven his next present, a new night light from Hunk that will create constellations on the walls. In return, Sven manages to hand all three of them slim plastic bags that all reveal family portraits he’s drawn. They all make sure to thank and kiss him properly.

The rest of the presents get unwrapped in a quick blur, since most of the gifts are for the kids. Within the Paladin Family, everyone has a Secret Santa agreement that is exchanged during the Christmas Eve party. They’ve all agreed that it’s better to spend the money on the kids, since all the adults can mostly buy the things they need themselves. Shiro opens up a miniature of the Calypso ship from Pidge, and Keith gets neat ruby studs from Allura that he puts into his lobes immediately. Andi has made them black and red star-shaped magnets in daycare, for which they kiss and thank her like they did with her brother, promising to put them on the fridge.

For his Mom, Keith has drawn a sketch of her, himself and his Dad based on memory and old photographs. She pulls him in for a tight hug as she sees it, whispering a soft thank you into his ear that sounds a little breathless. Shiro has gotten her a new belt with a knife holster fit for her blade. She may not tear up seeing it, but she hugs him all the same.

The kids keep opening the remaining presents for a while after the adults have finished. Andi gets a toy guitar with playable buttons and Sven a rainbow xylophone from Lance, and Keith is only half-convinced he didn’t buy them just to annoy him with the noise they’re going to be making for months. Both of the kids get jewelry sets from Allura. Andi receives a whole jewelry box that doubles as a music box, with little nooks and crannies to put her new clip-on earrings, necklace, bracelet and rings in. There is even a mirror in the lid, that she can look at herself in. Sven receives just the necklace and bracelet, likely so he doesn’t accidentally swallow the smaller pieces from his own set. Keith makes a mental reminder to put the music box somewhere he can’t find reach it and remind Andi to only play with it when there are adults in the room.

From Coran, both children receive weighted blankets, and Kolivan has knitted their whole family new socks, hats, mittens and jumpers, as well as stuffed lion toys for the children. Keith wonders to himself it the man has a little too much free time on his hands these days, since he was able to make that much. He’s currently off on a mission somewhere he wasn’t at liberty to talk about, but Keith reminds himself to have a chat with him about treating his hobby like a new job when he comes back.

Shiro and Keith have gotten their children both astronaut Barbies to play together and glow-in-the-dark stars to attach to their ceiling.

Finally, all the presents are open and the floor is littered with wrapping paper and ribbon. The kids settle into taking in their presents properly and starting to play with them. Krolia heads over to them to join in, the Wolf popping in with a spread of sparkles, finally having finished with his breakfast-induced nap. Seeing everyone occupied for the moment, Keith begins to gather up the trash and Shiro heads to the kitchen to clean up from breakfast.

As Keith comes to the kitchen with the bag full of trash, he finds Shiro loading up the dishwasher.

“I have another present for you, too,” Keith says in a low voice, giving Shiro a small grin. “But I’ll wait until the kids are down for their nap to give it to you.”

Shiro raises an eyebrow, before leaning in to whisper, “Should I look forward to it?”

“Takashi!” Keith laughs. “It’s not that kind of a present.”

“Shame,” Shiro says, grinning at him playfully. “Though I guess a naptime quickie isn’t really on the table with your Mom here.”

Keith snorts, shaking his head, before moving to help Shiro finish up loading the dishwasher and turn it on.

“Alright, kids,” Shiro says, clapping his hands together and walking closer to the living room. “There’s one more gift, but it’s waiting outside, and you’ll need to get properly dressed for it. And I mean winter clothes and everything.”

Andi looks up, her big eyes gleaming almost feverishly. “What is it, Papa?”

Shiro smiles. “Go put on your clothes and you’ll get to see.”

Andi quickly gets to her feet and rushes past her parents up the stairs to get dressed. Shiro takes Sven’s hand and starts heading up slower with him, the Wolf following them. Now that he’s properly awake, Sven is able to climb the stairs himself, little by little, but it’s still a good idea to keep an eye on him, in case he falls.

Before Keith heads to follow them and get dressed himself, he turns to his Mom. “You sure you don’t want to come with us?”

“I’m sure,” Krolia says warmly, getting to her feet and stepping over to him. She places a hand on his shoulder, steady and comforting. “I like being able to cook Christmas dinner for you all.”

Keith nods silently, stepping in to give her a proper hug. He knows cooking Christmas dinner is a way for Krolia to both live out the Christmas memories she has from before she left. When Keith was just a baby and his Dad was still alive, but it’s also a way for her to make up for the Christmases she missed with her family. And at the same time it gives Keith and Shiro a few hours to spend with just their children as a family. Keith hopes he has managed to make it clear to her that she doesn’t have to do any of that, but since she insists on staying behind every year, he doesn’t fight her on it when she gives him her usual answer. Even if he still has to ask every year just to make sure.

He gives his Mom a tighter squeeze before letting go and heading upstairs. He glances into the nursery to check in on how Shiro is managing by himself, and sees him help Sven get dressed in his new knitted clothes. Andi is big enough to be able to get dressed independently, sitting on her bed in her new jumper, putting on her new socks. Keith smiles to himself, at the sight of his family, his heart warm as he heads to his and Shiro’s room to get dressed. He puts on multiple layers of clothes, much warmer than the desert requires. But then, they won’t be in the desert long. He also makes sure to brush and braid his hair properly for the day.

Once he’s done, he heads back over to the nursery, finding his children dressed and his husband still in his pajamas.

“Come on,” he says to the kids. “Let’s head back downstairs.”

“Will we get to see the present now?” Andi asks eagerly, stepping over to him, her brother and the Wolf following silently at her heels.

“In a bit,” Keith says with a smile, giving Shiro a nod, before heading out of the nursery with the kids and the Wolf to give Shiro the chance to get dressed.

Krolia has already settled into the kitchen to start preparing the turkey, and Andi goes over to watch her cook and chat with her. In the meantime, Keith pulls on his new jumper and socks, Sven content to sit close to him on the floor and observe the Christmas lights, the Wolf beside him, his tail curled around his small body as usual. Not for the first time, Keith wonders what his son might be thinking behind his dark, curious eyes. His quiet little Shooting Star.

He strokes Sven’s hair as he sits down on his other side, watching the Christmas lights with him.

They don’t get to sit still for long, Shiro coming down soon enough, fully dressed and quickly stealing Andi’s attention again. Then it’s another blur of putting the coats, hats, scarves and mittens on everyone, before they all, including Krolia and the Wolf, head out of the house.

As soon as the door opens and Andi steps out onto the porch, she lets out the loudest screech Keith has ever heard.

“Oh!” she cries, jumping up into the air, before rushing down from the porch and into the desert sand.

She makes it to the huge, family-sized sleigh waiting for all of them not too far away, wrapped up in thick red ribbon, and doesn’t seem to be able to decide how she wants to react. She keeps circling it with shining eyes and a huge grin, making excited little noises in the back of her throat.

Krolia smiles, stepping down to the sand as well. “Do you like it, Andromeda?”

“I _love_ it!” she cries out, turning to her. “Is it from you, Granny?”

“It is,” Krolia says with a nod, stepping a bit closer. “Santa helped me deliver it.”

Andi rushes to jump into her arms, wrapping herself completely around her grandmother. “Thank you, Granny! Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

“You’re welcome, Andromeda,” Krolia says softly. “Just make sure to use it a lot, okay?”

“We will!”

Before Keith can even get a word in to suggest they take it for a test run right away, everyone’s attention is suddenly caught with Sven falling into the sand, having apparently tried to follow his sister.

“Oh no,” Keith groans, quickly heading over to his son, just in time to see him sit up by his hands and his dark eyes starting to swell with tears.

Sven turns to him, his face flushing up with crying as he lets out little hiccups. “Sven ouchie.”

“I know,” Keith says softly. “It’s okay. Where do you hurt?”

Sven shifts to sit up more properly, showing him his sand-covered hands. Keith pulls of his mittens, and indeed, Sven’s palms do look a little flushed from the hit, the mitten prints pressed into the delicate skin. Keith takes one of them in hand and presses a soft, gentle kiss to it. He does the same for the other.

“There,” he says with an encouraging smile at his son. “Is that better? Daddy kissed the ouchie away.”

Sven swallows, his lower lip still trembling a little, but he nods.

“Are you sure?” Keith asks gently. “You don’t have to pretend.”

As if summoned, the Wolf pops next to Sven and starts licking his cheeks. Soon enough, Sven is laughing again.

“It no hurt,” Sven says, hugging the Wolf’s face. “Sven sleigh!”

Keith smiles, giving the Wolf a little look to get him off Sven, before giving him his hand to help pull him properly to his feet. “Let’s go then.”

Shiro steps over to them, Keith letting Sven finally go to his sister to take in the sleigh, though he makes sure to look after him as he goes.

“Is he okay?” Shiro asks.

“I think so,” Keith says, glancing at him. “He always bounces back quickly. Let’s just keep an eye on him.”

Shiro nods, touching his shoulder before heading over to their children. Keith gives his Mom a final look and wave. “We’ll be back in a few hours. Call or text if you need us.”

“Take your time,” Krolia says with a smile and a wave of her own.

Keith nods at her, before turning around and walking over to his family as well, all of them around the sleigh, even the Wolf.

“Okay, guys,” Shiro says. “Time to go.”

Keith takes Sven into his arms before they all grab a hold of the Wolf’s fur, and in seconds of flashing light and quick blur of movement, they’re out of the mild weather of the Arizona desert and in the middle of a frozen landscape. The sudden biting cold nips at Keith’s skin and makes his breath turn to mist as he takes in the surroundings. The skies are already dark with the time difference and the Northern location they’ve arrived in. They’re standing at the base of a long hill, just perfect for sleighing, with no people in sight. The open skies are clear, full of stars and aurora borealis coloring them, complete silence surrounding the four of them.

He can’t help but think that this has to be one of the best parts of having a teleporting Wolf in the family. Just because where they live doesn’t get snow, that doesn’t have to mean they can’t enjoy the more wintery aspects of Christmas. Every year since Andi was born, Keith and Shiro have taken their kids to a different snowy place on Christmas to sleigh. This year, they’ve come to the Finnish Lapland; somewhere in the middle of nowhere. It’s quiet and peaceful, the bare and untouched landscape just for them in this moment. 

“Let’s go, let’s go!” Andi calls, already rushing to move up the hill.

“Okay, okay,” Shiro laughs, taking a hold of the reins on the sleigh. “The last one on top is a rotten egg!”

Keith can’t help it. He may be a Dad and holding his toddler, but a challenge is a challenge.

He springs into run. He’s not going to lose this one, snow or no snow, delicate condition or no delicate condition.

…

They spend a good few hours in the snow and ice, coming down on their new sleigh with all four of them on it all at once dozens of times. The enjoy the rush and the speed and the beautiful landscape, the stars and the aurora borealis above them. By the time they finally return home, they’re all damp and sweaty from all the running, and the simple lunch of sandwiches and cocoa prepared for them by Krolia are much appreciated.

Afterwards, and with the early start in the morning, Sven begins drooping and despite her best efforts, so does his sister. Shiro and Keith help them change into clean pajamas after a quick wash, and put them down on their naps, wrapping them in their new weighted, warm blankets. It’s not long before the two’s breathing evens out and their parents softly tiptoe their way out of the nursery, shutting the door behind them.

As Keith turns to his husband, he remembers his earlier promise, and his heart suddenly starts thumping hard in his chest, his hands beginning to sweat. But Keith has always faced things head-on, and he’s put off telling Shiro long enough. It’s time.

So he swallows around his dry throat, and opens his mouth. “I could give you your other present now.”

Shiro blinks at him. “Sure…?”

“Let’s go to our room,” Keith says, taking a hold of Shiro’s hand and starting to lead the way. As he looks over his shoulder, he sees Shiro following, a mix of confusion and curiosity on his face. He tries his best to not feel discouraged.

It doesn’t take them long to reach the master bedroom. As they enter, Keith lets go of Shiro’s hand, and leaves his side for a moment to look through the pockets of his pants from yesterday. He quickly finds the envelope he’s been carrying with him for a few weeks in the left pocket.

Heart in his throat, he turns to hold it out between himself and Shiro, looking him up in the eyes with determination. “Here. I hope it makes you happy.”

“Everything you do makes me happy, baby,” Shiro says, his expression softening into a sweet smile. Keith swallows. He only hopes that that is really true.

Shiro takes the envelope, opening it with a few deliberate, delicate movements. He takes out the first paper inside, blinking at the simple card of text, his eyes widening.

He lowers the card, looking at Keith with a raised, confused eyebrow. “’Will you please be my Papa?’”

Keith swallows again. “Look inside again.”

Shiro lifts the envelope to dig out a thinner piece of paper, one that Keith can see through a little bit. He knows it’s an almost galaxy-like image of white lines on black background, with a two forms that vaguely resemble peanuts in the center. Perhaps to someone else the image alone might not mean much, but Keith and Shiro have two children. They’ve both seen sonograms before.

Shiro lowers his hand to look at Keith again, and despite their many years of knowing each other, Keith can’t seem to decipher the expression on his face. It makes the back of his neck sweat. “Are you…?”

Keith nods slowly, his heart thudding in his chest. “Three months.”

“Three months?!” Shiro gasps, stepping closer to grasp Keith’s arms with his hands. “And you waited this long to tell me?”

“I haven’t known that long,” Keith says, averting his eyes. “And then I figured it would be a nice surprise.”

“Are you okay?” Shiro asks, softening his tone. “Are you taking care of yourself?”

“Shiro, it isn’t my first rodeo,” Keith says, turning to look at him again and letting a small smile slip. “I just…I hope you’re happy. About this.”

“Oh, baby,” Shiro breathes, and the next thing Keith knows, he’s being held warm and tight against his husband. “Of course I’m happy. I’m _so_ happy. We’re gonna have another baby.”

“Uh…” Keith starts, his voice muffled by Shiro’s muscled shoulder. “It’s…bab _ies_ actually. It’s…it’s twins.”

“Twins?!” Shiro gasps, and Keith’s world swims a little as his gravity shifts, Shiro lifting him up into his arms, holding him by the waist. “Oh, baby, you’re so amazing. I’ll take good care of you from now on, I promise.”

Keith smiles softly down at his husband, leaning in to give him a soft kiss. “You always do,” he says. “I am a bit nervous about telling the kids though. I wanted you to know first.”

“We’ll figure out a way to tell them together,” Shiro says warmly, smiling brightly at him, eyes sparkling.

“I’ve also been thinking that we might need to extend the house,” Keith says. “The kids can’t all share one room, especially as they keep growing. And Andi will probably want her own room in a few years.”

“We’ll come up with a proper plan after the holidays,” Shiro promises. “Right now, let’s just enjoy this; all of this.”

Keith smiles, and leans down to kiss Shiro again. “Merry Christmas, Takashi.”

“You always give me the best gifts, baby,” Shiro says softly, and kisses him again, a little deeper this time. “Thank you.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm leaving up for interpretation how Keith can get pregnant in this; if it's because he's trans, due to Galra biology, or just a thing any man can do in the future :3.


End file.
